Doctors advised on exam stress

Exam stress has become so serious that government health advisers are to issue guidelines to doctors on coping with severe cases.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (Nice) will set out the best way to treat teenagers suffering from depression triggered by exam pressures. GPs will be guided on whether to prescribe counselling, psychotherapy or anti-depressant drugs.

The move comes amid growing controversy about the widespread prescribing of anti-depressants to children.

Prescriptions for Prozac and similar drugs to GCSE and A-level candidates trebled in eight years to 140,000 last year. Prescriptions to under-16s doubled to 110,000.

Nice said exam pressure ranked alongside bullying, abuse and bereavement as a major trigger for depression, suffered by one in eight adolescents.

Its experts will review global medical trials. A spokesman said the guidelines would recommend good practice based on "the best available evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness".

Using anti-depressant medication to treat children and adolescents have sparked controversy. Mental health campaigners fear pills do more harm than good. Last year, most anti-depressants apart from Prozac - chemical name fluoxetine - were banned for British under-18s after studies showing an increased suicide risk.

The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, which released the figures on anti-depressant use, concluded that fluoxetine alone appears to have "a positive balance of risks and benefits" in children.

Doug McAvoy, general secretary of the National Union of Teachers, called the rise in drug use "evidence of increasing anxiety in the classroom".

Thousands of young people across Britain are this week entering the most intensive phase of the exam season after the halfterm break. Charities helping teenagers and their parents reported an upsurge in calls linked to exam stress, as mounting pressure to perform well and extra competition for university places takes its toll.

The Samaritans have received calls from youngsters feeling suicidal through exam pressure. In the year to April, ChildLine took a record 929 pleas for help with exam stress - up 50 per cent on the previous year.

Parentline Plus said it had detected a worrying trend for youngsters to pop ProPlus tablets or drink Red Bull for a caffeine boost to help them revise.

Experts recommend that pupils studying for exams should get plenty of sleep and eat healthy food to boost their concentration.

Research carried out by the charity ExamAid suggests that while teenagers welcome school revision tips, many - particularly boys - resist counselling and other attempts to combat stress.